Cryotherapy is a new trend among athletes and celebs and has been used in Japan for almost 30 years as a remedy for arthritis. The therapy is pretty interesting: you simply stand in a small chamber while ice-cold nitrogen gas is blasted inside, freezing your body for around three minutes, literally chilling you to the bone. Though it’s been used for years for muscle recovery, fatigue or chronic illnesses like arthritis, cryotherapy has been boasting a new, potentially more appealing benefit: weight loss. Doctors are claiming that in one, three-minute session, clients can torch up to 800 calories, increase metabolism, improve sleep, relieve stress and anxiety, alleviate pain, reduce cellulite, heal sore muscles and release endorphins the same way you would in a spin class.
The Logic
The colder-than-ice cloud of nitrogen fills the chamber and tricks your body into thinking it’s in danger and forces it into preservation mode. When that happens, the brain signals your body to rush blood into your core, increasing your internal body heat and boosting your metabolism. After about a minute, the blood temporarily slows and constricts, creating a tourniquet effect inside your entire body. When it’s over, the newly enriched blood rushes through your entire body, which boosts immunity, cell renewal and relaxation.
The Experience
When you arrive, the attendant will go over the entire process to make sure you’re comfortable with the process. When it’s time to start, you’ll take off all of your clothes and put on thick gloves and water-resistant booties. This is to prevent your fingers and toes from getting too uncomfortably cold. Once you’re ready, the attendant helps you into the chamber and releases panels over your shoulder so you’re fully submerged from the neck down. When you give the okay, the attendant releases the nitrogen at around negative 180 degrees Fahrenheit, instructing you to quarter turn every 15 seconds or so. You can stay in anywhere from 1 to 3 minutes.
The Results
When you get out, the attendant will take a temperature reading of your skin. In most cases, your skin’s temperature will drop by 30-50 degrees. The cool thing is that your core temperature remains at about the same, meaning the frigid temperature is just penetrating the surface into your muscles and there’s no risk of hypothermia.
Tips Before You Try
If you work out before, wait two or three hours before trying. If you plan to work out after, leave two or three hours in between. This will let you get the full benefit. Don’t be nervous! You’ll have someone in the room with you the entire time, answering your questions and making sure you feel safe.
Personal Recommendation
Though it’s impossible to tell if I actually burned 800 calories during my session, my muscles definitely felt more relaxed and I felt less sore the next day, despite a killer workout before the cryo session. Though I didn’t experience that elevated feeling I usually get after a good workout, I did feel less stressed and relaxed throughout the day and slept like a baby that night.
I would recommend cryotherapy to athletes who desperately need an off day, or high-stress 9-5ers who don’t have time to get an hour workout. I attended my first cryotherapy session at Pacificryo in Marina Del Rey. Sessions start at $40.
